The Vedic Civilisation (1500–500 BCE), characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, during this period the Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, were composed and this culture later became well established in the region.[61][62]Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre.[63] The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxila in the Punjab, which was founded around 1000 BCE.[64][53] Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Persian Achaemenid Empire (around 519 BCE), Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE[65] and the Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya and extended by Ashoka the Great, until 185 BCE.[53] The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria (180–165 BCE) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165–150 BCE), prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region.[53][66] Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of higher education in the world, which was established during the late Vedic period in 6th century BCE.[67][68] The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was provided on an individualistic basis.[68] The ancient university was documented by the invading forces of Alexander the Great, "the like of which had not been seen in Greece," and was also recorded by Chinese pilgrims in the 4th or 5th century CE.[69][70][71][72]

The Mughals introduced Persian literature and high culture, establishing the roots of Indo-Persian culture in the region.[82] From the region of modern-day Pakistan, key cities during the Mughal rule were Lahore and Thatta,[83] both of which were chosen as the site of impressive Mughal buildings.[84] In the early 16th century, the region remained under the Mughal Empire ruled by Muslim emperors.[85] By the early 18th century, increasing European influence contributed to the slow disintegration of the empire as the lines between commercial and political dominance became increasingly blurred.[85]

During this time, the English East India Company had established coastal outposts.[85] Control over the seas, greater resources, technology, and British military protection led the Company to increasingly flex its military muscle, allowing the Company to gain control over the subcontinent by 1765 and sideline European competitors.[86] Expanding access beyond Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of region by the 1820s.[85] Many historians see this as the start of the region's colonial period.[85] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and itself effectively made an arm of British administration, the Company began more deliberately to enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture.[85] Such reforms included the enforcement of the English Education Act in 1835 and the introduction of the Indian Civil Service (ICS).[87] Traditional madrasahs — primary institutions of higher learning for Muslims in the subcontinent — were no longer supported by the English Crown, and nearly all of the madrasahs lost their financial endowment.[88]

Over 10 million people were uprooted from their homeland and travelled on foot, bullock carts, and trains to their promised new home during the Partition of India. During the partition, between 200,000 to 2,000,000 people were killed in the retributive genocide.[99]

Pakistan Movement

The 1946 elections resulted in the Muslim League winning 90 percent of the seats reserved for Muslims. Thus, the 1946 election was effectively a plebiscite in which the Indian Muslims were to vote on the creation of Pakistan, a plebiscite won by the Muslim League.[102] This victory was assisted by the support given to the Muslim League by the rural peasantry of Bengal as well as the support of the landowners of Sindh and Punjab. The Congress, which initially denied the Muslim League's claim of being the sole representative of Indian Muslims, was now forced to recognise the fact.[102] The British had no alternative except to take Jinnah's views into account as he had emerged as the sole spokesperson of India's Muslims. However, the British did not want India to be partitioned, and in one last effort to prevent it they devised the Cabinet Mission plan.[103]

Independence and modern Pakistan

The American CIA film on Pakistan made in 1950 examines the history and geography of Pakistan.

"You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State."

The creation of Pakistan was never fully accepted by many British leaders, among them Lord Mountbatten.[127] Mountbatten clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League's idea of Pakistan.[128] Jinnah refused Mountbatten's offer to serve as Governor-General of Pakistan.[129] When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, he replied 'most probably'.[130]

Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, a respected Deobandi alim (scholar) who occupied the position of Shaykh al-Islam in Pakistan in 1949, and Maulana Mawdudi of Jamaat-i-Islami played a pivotal role in the demand for an Islamic constitution. Mawdudi demanded that the Constituent Assembly make an explicit declaration affirming the "supreme sovereignty of God" and the supremacy of the shariah in Pakistan.[131]

A significant result of the efforts of the Jamaat-i-Islami and the ulama was the passage of the Objectives Resolution in March 1949. The Objectives Resolution, which Liaquat Ali Khan called the second most important step in Pakistan's history, declared that "sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust". The Objectives Resolution has been incorporated as a preamble to the constitutions of 1956, 1962, and 1973.[132]

Role of Islam in Pakistan

The idea of Pakistan, which had received overwhelming popular support among Indian Muslims, especially those in the provinces of British India where Muslims were in a minority such as the United Provinces.,[167] was articulated in terms of an Islamic state by the Muslim League leadership, the ulama (Islamic clergy) and Jinnah.[168] Jinnah had developed a close association with the ulama and upon his death was described by one such alim, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, as the greatest Muslim after Aurangzeb and as someone who desired to unite the Muslims of the world under the banner of Islam.[169][170]

The Objectives Resolution in March 1949, which declared God as the sole sovereign over the entire universe, represented the first formal step to transform Pakistan into an Islamic state.[171][132] Muslim League leader Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman asserted that Pakistan could only truly become an Islamic state after bringing all believers of Islam into a single political unit.[172] Keith Callard, one of the earliest scholars on Pakistani politics, observed that Pakistanis believed in the essential unity of purpose and outlook in the Muslim world and assumed that Muslim from other countries would share their views on the relationship between religion and nationality.[173]

However, Pakistan's pan-Islamist sentiments for a united Islamic bloc called Islamistan were not shared by other Muslim governments,[174] although Islamists such as the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Al-Haj Amin al-Husseini, and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, became drawn to the country. Pakistan's desire for an international organization of Muslim countries was fulfilled in the 1970s when the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) was formed.[175]

The strongest opposition to the Islamist ideological paradigm being imposed on the state came from the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan[176] whose educated class, according to a survey by social scientist Nasim Ahmad Jawed, preferred secularism and focused on ethnic identity unlike educated West Pakistanis who tended to prefer an Islamic identity.[177] The Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami considered Pakistan to be an Islamic state and believed Bengali nationalism to be unacceptable. In the 1971 conflict over East Pakistan the Jamaat-e-Islami fought the Bengali nationalists on the Pakistan Army's side.[178]

After Pakistan's first ever general elections the 1973 Constitution was created by an elected Parliament.[179] The Constitution declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic and Islam as the state religion. It also stated that all laws would have to be brought into accordance with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah and that no law repugnant to such injunctions could be enacted.[27] The 1973 Constitution also created certain institutions such as the Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology to channel the interpretation and application of Islam.[180]

Pakistan's leftist Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto faced vigorous opposition which coalesced into a movement united under the revivalist banner of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet")[181] which aimed to establish an Islamic state based on Sharia laws. Bhutto agreed to some Islamist demands before being overthrown in a coup.[182]

After taking power from Bhutto in a coup de'tat, General Zia-ul-Haq, who came from a religious background,[183] committed himself to establishing an Islamic state and enforcing sharia law.[182] Zia established separate Shariat judicial courts[184] and court benches[185][186] to judge legal cases using Islamic doctrine.[187] Zia bolstered the influence of the ulama (Islamic clergy) and the Islamic parties.[187]Zia-ul-Haq forged a strong alliance between the military and Deobandi institutions[188] and even though most Barelvi ulama[189] and only a few Deobandi scholars had supported Pakistan's creation, Islamic state politics came to be mostly in favour of Deobandi (and later Ahl-e-Hadith/Salafi) institutions instead of Barelvi.[190] Sectarian tensions increased with Zia's anti-Shia policies.[191]

According to a PEW opinion poll a majority of Pakistanis support making Sharia the official law of the land.[192] In a survey of several Muslim countries, the PEW Research Centre also found that Pakistanis tend to identify with their religion more than their nationality in contrast to Muslims in other nations such as Egypt, Indonesia and Jordan.[193]

The geography and climate of Pakistan are extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.[194] Pakistan covers an area of 881,913 km2 (340,509 sq mi), approximately equal to the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. It is the 33rd-largest nation by total area, although this ranking varies depending on how the disputed territory of Kashmir is counted. Pakistan has a 1,046 km (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south[195] and land borders of 6,774 km (4,209 mi) in total: 2,430 km (1,510 mi) with Afghanistan, 523 km (325 mi) with China, 2,912 km (1,809 mi) with India and 909 km (565 mi) with Iran.[196] It shares a marine border with Oman,[197] and is separated from Tajikistan by the cold, narrow Wakhan Corridor.[198] Pakistan occupies a geopolitically important location at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia.[12]

Geologically, Pakistan is located in the Indus–Tsangpo Suture Zone and overlaps the Indian tectonic plate in its Sindh and Punjab provinces; Balochistan and most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are within the Eurasian plate, mainly on the Iranian plateau. Gilgit–Baltistan and Azad Kashmir lie along the edge of the Indian plate and hence are prone to violent earthquakes. This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region.[199] Ranging from the coastal areas of the south to the glaciated mountains of the north, Pakistan's landscapes vary from plains to deserts, forests, hills, and plateaus.[200]

Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plain, and the Balochistan Plateau.[201] The northern highlands contain the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Pamir mountain ranges (see mountains of Pakistan), which contain some of the world's highest peaks, including five of the fourteen eight-thousanders (mountain peaks over 8,000 metres or 26,250 feet), which attract adventurers and mountaineers from all over the world, notably K2 (8,611 m or 28,251 ft) and Nanga Parbat (8,126 m or 26,660 ft).[202] The Balochistan Plateau lies in the west and the Thar Desert in the east. The 1,609 km (1,000 mi) Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea. There is an expanse of alluvial plains along it in the Punjab and Sindh.[203]

The climate varies from tropical to temperate, with arid conditions in the coastal south. There is a monsoon season with frequent flooding due to heavy rainfall, and a dry season with significantly less rainfall or none at all. There are four distinct seasons in Pakistan: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November.[89] Rainfall varies greatly from year to year, and patterns of alternate flooding and drought are common.[204]

Flora and fauna

The diversity of the landscape and climate in Pakistan allows a wide variety of trees and plants to flourish. The forests range from coniferous alpine and subalpine trees such as spruce, pine, and deodar cedar in the extreme northern mountains to deciduous trees in most of the country (for example, the mulberry-like shisham found in the Sulaiman Mountains), to palms such as coconut and date in the southern Punjab, southern Balochistan, and all of Sindh. The western hills are home to juniper, tamarisk, coarse grasses, and scrub plants. Mangrove forests form much of the coastal wetlands along the coast in the south.[205]

Coniferous forests are found at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 metres (3,300 to 13,100 feet) in most of the northern and northwestern highlands. In the xeric regions of Balochistan, date palm and Ephedra are common. In most of the Punjab and Sindh, the Indus plains support tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forest as well as tropical and xeric shrublands. These forests are mostly of mulberry, acacia, and eucalyptus.[206] About 2.2% or 1,687,000 hectares (16,870 km2) of Pakistan was forested in 2010.[207]

The flora and fauna of Pakistan suffer from a number of problems. Pakistan has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the world, which, along with hunting and pollution, has had adverse effects on the ecosystem. The government has established a large number of protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and game reserves to address these issues.[208][209]

Judicature: The judiciary of Pakistan is a hierarchical system with two classes of courts: the superior (or higher) judiciary and the subordinate (or lower) judiciary. The Chief Justice of Pakistan is the chief judge who oversees the judicature's court system at all levels of command. The superior judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and five High Courts, with the Supreme Court at the apex. The Constitution of Pakistan entrusts the superior judiciary with the obligation to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. Neither the Supreme Court nor a High Court may exercise jurisdiction in relation to Tribal Areas, except otherwise provided for. The disputed regions of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan have separate court systems.

The Kashmir conflict remains the major point of contention between Pakistan and India; three of their four wars were fought over this territory.[230] Due partly to difficulties in relations with its geopolitical rival India, Pakistan maintains close political relations with Turkey and Iran,[231] and both countries have been a focal point in Pakistan's foreign policy.[231] Saudi Arabia also maintains a respected position in Pakistan's foreign policy.

Because of ideological differences, Pakistan opposed the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, Pakistan was one of the closest allies of the United States.[238][246] Relations between Pakistan and Russia have greatly improved since 1999, and co-operation in various sectors has increased.[247] Pakistan has had an "on-and-off" relationship with the United States. A close ally of the United States during the Cold war, Pakistan's relationship with the United States soured in the 1990s when the US imposed sanctions because of Pakistan's secretive nuclear development.[248] Since 9/11, Pakistan has been a close ally of the United States on the issue of counter-terrorism in the regions of the Middle East and South Asia, with the US supporting Pakistan with aid money and weapons.[249][250] Initially, the United States-led war on terrorism led to an improvement in the relationship, but it was strained by a divergence of interests and resulting mistrust during the war in Afghanistan and by issues related to terrorism.[251][252][253][254]

Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel;[255] nonetheless, some Israeli citizens have visited the country on tourist visas.[256] However, an exchange took place between the two countries using Turkey as a communication conduit.[257] Despite Pakistan being the only country in the world that has not established diplomatic relations with Armenia, an Armenian community still resides in Pakistan.[258] Pakistan had warm relations with Bangladesh, despite some initial strains in their relationship.[259]

Relations with China

Pakistan was the first country to have established diplomatic relations with China, and the relationship continues to be warm since China's war with India in 1962.[261] In the 1960s to 1980s, Pakistan greatly helped China in reaching out to the world's major countries and helped facilitate US President Nixon's state visit to China.[261] Despite the change of governments in Pakistan and fluctuations in the regional and global situation, China policy in Pakistan continues to be a dominant factor at all times.[261] In return, China is Pakistan's largest trading partner, and economic co-operation has flourished, with substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan's infrastructural expansion such as the Pakistani deep-water port at Gwadar. Sino-Pakistani friendly relations touched new heights as both the countries signed 51 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in 2015 for co-operation in different areas.[262][263][264][265] Both countries signed a Free Trade Agreement in the 2000s, and Pakistan continues to serve as China's communication bridge to the Muslim world.[266] In 2016 China announced that it will set up an anti-terrorism alliance with Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.[267]

Emphasis on relations with Muslim world

After Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other Muslim countries[268] and made an active bid for leadership of the Muslim world, or at least for leadership in efforts to achieve unity.[269] The Ali brothers had sought to project Pakistan as the natural leader of the Islamic world, in part due to its large manpower and military strength.[270] A top-ranking Muslim League leader, Khaliquzzaman, declared that Pakistan would bring together all Muslim countries into Islamistan — a pan-Islamic entity.[271]

Such developments (along with Pakistan's creation) did not get American approval, and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee voiced international opinion at the time by stating that he wished that India and Pakistan would re-unite.[272] Since most of the Arab world was undergoing a nationalist awakening at the time, there was little attraction to Pakistan's Pan-Islamic aspirations.[273] Some of the Arab countries saw the 'Islamistan' project as a Pakistani attempt to dominate other Muslim states.[274]

Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around the world. Pakistan's efforts for the independence movements of Indonesia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Eritrea were significant and initially led to close ties between these countries and Pakistan.[275] However, Pakistan also masterminded an attack on the Afghan city of Jalalabad during the Afghan Civil War to establish an Islamic government there. Pakistan had wished to foment an 'Islamic Revolution' that would transcend national borders, covering Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.[276]

On the other hand, Pakistan's relations with Iran have been strained at times due to sectarian tensions.[277] Iran and Saudi Arabia used Pakistan as a battleground for their proxy sectarian war, and by the 1990s Pakistan's support for the Sunni Taliban organisation in Afghanistan became a problem for Shia Iran, which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.[278] Tensions between Iran and Pakistan intensified in 1998 when Iran accused Pakistan of war crimes after Pakistani warplanes had bombarded Afghanistan's last Shia stronghold in support of the Taliban.[279][280]

Pakistan is an influential and founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Maintaining cultural, political, social, and economic relations with the Arab world and other countries in the Muslim world is a vital factor in Pakistan's foreign policy.[281]

The local government system consists of a three-tier system of districts, tehsils, and union councils, with an elected body at each tier.[284] There are about 130 districts altogether, of which Azad Kashmir has ten[285] and Gilgit–Baltistan seven.[286] The Tribal Areas comprise seven tribal agencies and six small frontier regions detached from neighbouring districts.[287]

Clickable map of the four provinces and four federal territories of Pakistan.

Pakistan's "premier" intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was formed just within a year after the Independence of Pakistan in 1947.[289] Pakistan's ISI was ranked as the top intelligence agency in the world in 2011 by the International Business Times UK.[290] ABC News Point in 2014 also reported that the ISI was ranked as the top intelligence agency in the world[291] while Zee News reported the ISI as ranking fifth among the world's most powerful intelligence agencies.[292]

India claims the Kashmir on the basis of the Instrument of Accession — a legal agreement with Kashmir's leaders executed by MaharajaHari Singh, who agreed to accede the area to India.[296] Pakistan claims Kashmir on the basis of a Muslim majority and of geography, the same principles that were applied for the creation of the two independent states.[297][298] India referred the dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948.[299] In a resolution passed in 1948, the UN's General Assembly asked Pakistan to remove most of its troops as a plebiscite would then be held. However, Pakistan failed to vacate the region and a ceasefire was reached in 1949 establishing a Line of Control (LoC) that divided Kashmir between the two nations.[300] India, fearful that the Muslim majority populace of Kashmir would secede from India, did not allow a plebiscite to take place in the region. This was confirmed in a statement by India's Defense Minister, Krishna Menon, who said: "Kashmir would vote to join Pakistan and no Indian Government responsible for agreeing to plebiscite would survive."[301]

Pakistan claims that its position is for the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their future through impartial elections as mandated by the United Nations,[302] while India has stated that Kashmir is an integral part of India, referring to the Simla Agreement (1972) and to the fact that elections take place regularly.[303] In recent developments, certain Kashmiri independence groups believe that Kashmir should be independent of both India and Pakistan.[230]

The law enforcement in Pakistan also has a Motorway Patrol which is responsible for enforcement of traffic and safety laws, security and recovery on Pakistan's inter-provincial motorway network. In each of provincial Police Service, it also maintains a respective Elite Police units led by the NACTA — a counter-terrorism police unit as well as providing VIP escorts. In the Punjab and Sindh, the Pakistan Rangers are an internal security force with the prime objective to provide and maintain security in war zones and areas of conflict as well as maintaining law and order which includes providing assistance to the police.[304] The Frontier Corps serves the similar purpose in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and the Balochistan.[304]

The United States, Turkey, and China maintain close military relations and regularly export military equipment and technology transfer to Pakistan.[312] Joint logistics and major war games are occasionally carried out by the militaries of China and Turkey.[311][313][314] Philosophical basis for the military draft is introduced by the Constitution in times of emergency, but it has never been imposed.[315]

Despite the UN arms embargo on Bosnia, General Javed Nasir of the ISI airlifted anti-tank weapons and missiles to Bosnian mujahideen which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege. Under Nasir's leadership the ISI was also involved in supporting Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang Province, rebel Muslim groups in the Philippines, and some religious groups in Central Asia.[334][335]

Economists estimate that Pakistan was part of the wealthiest region of the world throughout the first millennium CE, with the largest economy by GDP. This advantage was lost in the 18th century as other regions such as China and Western Europe edged forward.[346] Pakistan is considered a developing country[347][348] and is one of the Next Eleven, a group of eleven countries that, along with the BRICs, have a high potential to become the world's largest economies in the 21st century.[349]

As of 2016 Pakistan's estimated nominal GDP is US$271 billion.[18] The GDP by PPP is US$946,667 million.[357] The estimated nominal per capita GDP is US$1,561,[358] the GDP (PPP)/capita is US$5,010 (international dollars),[359] and the debt-to-GDP ratio is 66.50%.[360] According to the World Bank, Pakistan has important strategic endowments and development potential. The increasing proportion of Pakistan's youth provides the country with both a potential demographic dividend and a challenge to provide adequate services and employment.[361] 21.04% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day. The unemployment rate among the aged 15 and over population is 5.5%.[362] Pakistan has an estimated 40 million middle class citizens, projected to increase to 100 million by 2050.[363] A 2015 report published by the World Bank ranked Pakistan's economy at 24th-largest[364] in the world by purchasing power and 41st-largest[365] in absolute terms. It is South Asia's second-largest economy, representing about 15.0% of regional GDP.[366][367]

Pakistan's economic growth since its inception has been varied. It has been slow during periods of democratic transition, but robust during the three periods of martial law, although the foundation for sustainable and equitable growth was not formed.[134] The early to middle 2000s was a period of rapid economic reforms; the government raised development spending, which reduced poverty levels by 10% and increased GDP by 3%.[196][376] The economy cooled again from 2007.[196] Inflation reached 25.0% in 2008,[377] and Pakistan had to depend on a fiscal policy backed by the International Monetary Fund to avoid possible bankruptcy.[378][379] A year later, the Asian Development Bank reported that Pakistan's economic crisis was easing.[380] The inflation rate for the fiscal year 2010–11 was 14.1%.[381] Since 2013, as part of an International Monetary Fund program, Pakistan's economic growth has picked up. In 2014 Goldman Sachs predicted that Pakistan's economy would grow 15 times in the next 35 years to become the 18th-largest economy in the world by 2050.[382] In his 2016 book, The Rise and Fall of Nations,Ruchir Sharma termed Pakistan's economy as at a 'take-off' stage and the future outlook until 2020 has been termed 'Very Good'. Sharma termed it possible to transform Pakistan from a "low-income to a middle-income country during the next five years".[383]

Pakistan is one of the largest producers of natural commodities, and its labour market is the 10th-largest in the world. The 7-million–strong Pakistani diaspora contributed US$19.9 billion to the economy in 2015–16.[384][385] The major source countries of remittances to Pakistan are: the UAE; the United States; Saudi Arabia; the Gulf states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman); Australia; Canada; Japan; the United Kingdom; Norway; and Switzerland.[386][387] According to the World Trade Organization, Pakistan's share of overall world exports is declining; it contributed only 0.128% in 2007.[388]

Agriculture and primary sector

The structure of the Pakistani economy has changed from a mainly agricultural to a strong service base. Agriculture as of 2015[update] accounts for only 20.9% of the GDP.[341] Even so, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Pakistan produced 21,591,400 metric tons of wheat in 2005, more than all of Africa (20,304,585 metric tons) and nearly as much as all of South America (24,557,784 metric tons).[390] Majority of the population, directly or indirectly, is dependent on this sector. It accounts for 43.5% of employed labour force and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings.[341][391]

A large portion of the country's manufactured exports are dependent on raw materials such as cotton and hides that are part of the agriculture sector, while supply shortages and market disruptions in farm products do push up inflationary pressures. The country is also the fifth-largest producer of cotton, with cotton production of 14 million bales from a modest beginning of 1.7 million bales in the early 1950s; is self sufficient in sugarcane; and is the fourth-largest producer in the world of milk. Land and water resources have not risen proportionately, but the increases have taken place mainly due to gains in labour and agriculture productivity. The major breakthrough in crop production took place in the late 1960s and 1970s due to the Green Revolution that made a significant contribution to land and yield increases of wheat and rice. Private tube wells led to a 50 percent increase in the cropping intensity which was augmented by tractor cultivation. While the tube wells raised crop yields by 50 percent, the High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of wheat and rice led to a 50–60 percent higher yield.[392] Meat industry accounts for 1.4 percent of overall GDP.[393]

Industry is the third-largest sector of the economy, accounting for 20.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), and 13 percent of total employment. Large-scale manufacturing (LSM), at 12.2% of GDP, dominates the overall sector, accounting for 66% of the sectoral share, followed by small-scale manufacturing, which accounts for 4.9% of total GDP. Pakistan's cement industry is also fast growing mainly because of demand from Afghanistan and from the domestic real estate sector. In 2013 Pakistan exported 7,708,557 metric tons of cement.[395] Pakistan has an installed capacity of 44,768,250 metric tons of cement and 42,636,428 metric tons of clinker. In 2012 and 2013, the cement industry in Pakistan became the most profitable sector of the economy.[396]

The textile industry has a pivotal position in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. In Asia, Pakistan is the eighth-largest exporter of textile products, contributing 9.5% to the GDP and providing employment to around 15 million people (some 30% of the 49 million people in the workforce). Pakistan is the fourth-largest producer of cotton with the third-largest spinning capacity in Asia after China and India, contributing 5% to the global spinning capacity.[397] China is the second largest buyer of Pakistani textiles, importing US$1.527 billion of textiles last fiscal. Unlike the US, where mostly value-added textiles are imported, China buys only cotton yarn and cotton fabric from Pakistan. In 2012, Pakistani textile products accounted for 3.3% or US$1.07bn of all UK textile imports, 12.4% or $4.61bn of total Chinese textile imports, 2.98% or $2.98b of all US textile imports, 1.6% or $0.88bn of total German textile imports and 0.7% or $0.888bn of total Indian textile imports.[398]

Services

Services sector has 58.8% share in GDP[341] and has emerged as the main driver of economic growth.[399] Pakistani society like other developing countries is a consumption oriented society, having a high marginal propensity to consume. The growth rate of services sector is higher than the growth rate of agriculture and industrial sector. Services sector accounts for 54 percent of GDP in 2014 and little over one-third of total employment. Services sector has strong linkages with other sectors of economy; it provides essential inputs to agriculture sector and manufacturing sector.[400] Pakistan's I.T sector is regarded as among the fastest growing sector's in Pakistan. The World Economic Forum, assessing the development of Information and Communication Technology in the country ranked Pakistan 110th among 139 countries on the 'Networked Readiness Index 2016'.[401]

As of 2016[update], Pakistan has over 35 million Internet users and is ranked as one of the top countries that have registered a high growth rate in Internet penetration.[402] Overall, it has the 20th-largest population of Internet users in the world. The current growth rate and employment trend indicate that Pakistan's Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry will exceed the $10-billion mark by 2020.[403] The sector employees 12,000 and count's among top five freelancing nations.[404][405] The country has also improved its export performance in telecom, computer and information services, as the share of their exports surged from 8.2pc in 2005–06 to 12.6pc in 2012–13. This growth is much better than that of China, whose share in services exports was 3pc and 7.7pc for the same period respectively.[406]

The KANUPP-I, a Candu-type nuclear reactor, was supplied by Canada in 1971 — the country's first commercial nuclear power plant. The Sino-Pakistani nuclear cooperation began in the early 1980's. After a Sino-Pakistani nuclear cooperation agreement in 1986,[416] China provided Pakistan with a nuclear reactor dubbed CHASNUPP-I for energy and industrial growth of the country. In 2005 both countries proposed working on a joint energy security plan, calling for a huge increase in generation capacity to more than 160,000 MWe by 2030. Under its Nuclear Energy Vision 2050, the Pakistani government plans to increase nuclear power generation capacity to 40,000 MWe,[417] 8,900 MWe of it by 2030.[418][419]

Pakistan produced 1,135 megawatts of renewable energy for the month of October 2016. Pakistan expects to produce 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy by the beginning of 2019.[420]

With its diverse cultures, people, and landscapes, Pakistan attracted around 1 million foreign tourists in 2014, contributing PKR 94.8 billion to the country's economy,[423] which represented a significant decline since the 1970s when the country received unprecedented numbers of foreign tourists due to the popular Hippie trail. The trail attracted thousands of Europeans and Americans in the 1960s and 1970s who travelled via land through Turkey and Iran into India through Pakistan.[424] The main destinations of choice for these tourists were the Khyber Pass, Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore, Swat and Rawalpindi.[425] The numbers following the trail declined after the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet–Afghan War.[426]

Highways form the backbone of Pakistan's transport system; a total road length of 263,942 kilometres (164,006 miles) accounts for 92% of passenger and 96% of inland freight traffic.[341] Road transport services are largely in the hands of the private sector. The National Highway Authority is responsible for the maintenance of national highways and motorways. The highway and motorway system depends mainly on north–south links connecting the southern ports to the populous provinces of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Although this network only accounts for 4.59% of total road length,[341] it carries 85% of the country's traffic.[436][437]

The Pakistan Railways, under the Ministry of Railways (MoR), operates the railroad system. From 1947 until the 1970s the train system was the primary means of transport until the nationwide constructions of the national highways and the economic boom of the automotive industry. Beginning in the 1990s there was a marked shift in traffic from rail to highways; dependence grew on roads after the introduction of vehicles in the country. Now the railway's share of inland traffic is below 8% for passengers and 4% for freight traffic.[341] As personal transportation began to be dominated by the automobile, total rail track decreased from 8,775 kilometres (5,453 miles) in 1990–91 to 7,791 kilometres (4,841 miles) in 2011.[436][438] Pakistan expects to use the rail service to boost foreign trade with China, Iran, and Turkey.[439][440]

In 2010 Pakistan was ranked 43rd in the world in terms of published scientific papers.[455] The Pakistan Academy of Sciences, a strong scientific community, plays an influential and vital role in formulating recommendations regarding science policies for the government.[456]

Pakistan witnessed a fourfold increase in its scientific productivity in the past decade surging from approximately 2,000 articles per year in 2006 to more than 9,000 articles in 2015. Making Pakistan's cited article's higher than the BRIC countries put together.

Pakistan is the first and only Muslim country that maintains an active research presence in Antarctica.[462][463][464][465][466] Since 1991 Pakistan has maintained two summer research stations and one weather observatory on the continent and plans to open another full-fledged permanent base in Antarctica.[467]

Energy consumption by computers and usage has grown since the 1990s when PCs were introduced; Pakistan has about 30 million Internet users and is ranked as one of the top countries that have registered a high growth rate in Internet penetration as of 2013[update].[468] Key publications have been produced by Pakistan, and domestic software development has gained considerable international praise.[469]

As a result of initiatives taken in 2007, the English medium education has been made compulsory in all schools across the country.[481][482] Additional reforms enacted in 2013 required all educational institutions in Sindh to begin offering Chinese language courses, reflecting China's growing role as a superpower and its increasing influence in Pakistan.[483] The literacy rate of the population is ~58 %. The rate of male literacy is ~70.2% while the rate of female literacy is 46.3%.[381] Literacy rates vary by region and particularly by sex; as one example, female literacy in tribal areas is 3.0%.[484] With the advent of computer literacy in 1995, the government launched a nationwide initiative in 1998 with the aim of eradicating illiteracy and providing a basic education to all children.[485] Through various educational reforms, by 2015 the Ministry of Education expected to attain 100.00% enrolment levels among children of primary school age and a literacy rate of ~86% among people aged over 10.[486] Pakistan is currently spending 2.2 percent of its GDP on education;[487] which according to the Institute of Social and Policy Sciences is one of the lowest in South Asia.[488]

Demographics

The Kalash people maintain a unique identity and religion within Pakistan.

According to Provisional results of 2017 Census in Pakistan, the total population in Pakistan was 207.8 million, representing a 57% increase in 19 years.[489][490][491] which is equivalent to 2.57% of the world population.[492] Pakistan's census provisional results exclude data from Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, which is likely to be included in the final report.[493][494] Noted as the sixth most populated country in the world, its growth rate in 2016 was reported to be 1.45%, which is the highest of the SAARC nations, though this growth rate has been decreasing in recent years.[495] The population is projected to reach 210.13 million by 2020.

Expenditure on healthcare was ~2.8% of GDP in 2013. Life expectancy at birth was 67 years for females and 65 years for males in 2013.[502] The private sector accounts for about 80% of outpatient visits. Approximately 19% of the population and 30% of children under five are malnourished.[353] Mortality of the under-fives was 86 per 1,000 live births in 2012.[502]

Immigration

Pakistan hosts the second largest refugee population globally after Turkey.[510] An Afghan refugee girl near Tarbela Dam

Even after partition in 1947, Indian Muslims continued to migrate to Pakistan throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and these migrants settled mainly in Karachi and other towns of Sindh province.[511] The wars in neighboring Afghanistan during the 1980s and 90s also forced millions of Afghan refugees into Pakistan. The Pakistan Census excludes the 1.41 million registered refugees from Afghanistan,[512] who are found mainly in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and tribal belt, with small numbers residing in Karachi and Quetta. Pakistan is home to one of the world's largest refugee populations.[513] In addition to Afghans, around 2 million Bangladeshis and half a million other undocumented people live in Pakistan. They are claimed to be from other areas such as Myanmar, Iran, Iraq, and Africa.[514]

Experts say that the migration of both Bengalis and Burmese (Rohingya) to Pakistan started in the 1980s and continued until 1998. Shaikh Muhammad Feroze, the chairman of the Pakistani Bengali Action Committee, claims that there are 200 settlements of Bengali-speaking people in Pakistan, of which 132 are in Karachi. They are also found in various other areas of Pakistan such as Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Tando Adam, and Lahore.[515] Large-scale Rohingya migration to Karachi made that city one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas in the world after Myanmar.[516] The Burmese community of Karachi is spread out over 60 of the city's slums such as the Burmi Colony in Korangi, Arakanabad, Machchar colony, Bilal colony, Ziaul Haq Colony, and Godhra Camp.[517]

Thousands of Uyghur Muslims have also migrated to the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, fleeing religious and cultural persecution in Xinjiang, China.[518] Since 1989 thousands of Kashmiri Muslim refugees have sought refuge in Pakistan, complaining that many of the refugee women had been raped by Indian soldiers and that they were forced out of their homes by the soldiers.[519]

During and after the independence period, Urdu speaking Muslims from India migrated in large numbers to Pakistan, especially to the port city of Karachi, which is today the largest metropolis in Pakistan.[524]Migration from other countries, mainly from those nearby, has further accelerated the process of urbanisation in Pakistani cities. Inevitably, the rapid urbanisation caused by these large population movements has also created new political and socio-economic challenges.[524] In addition to immigration, economic trends such as the green revolution and political developments, among a host of other factors, are also important causes of urbanisation.[524]

Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition, has a long history and a large following among the Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, at both the academic and popular levels. Popular Sufi culture is centered around gatherings and celebrations at the shrines of saints and annual festivals that feature Sufi music and dance. Two Sufis whose shrines receive much national attention are Ali Hajweri in Lahore (c. 12th century)[547] and Shahbaz Qalander in Sehwan, Sindh (c. 12th century).[548]

There are two levels of Sufism in Pakistan. The first is the 'populist' Sufism of the rural population. This level of Sufism involves belief in intercession through saints, veneration of their shrines, and forming bonds with a pir (saint). Many rural Pakistani Muslims associate with pirs and seek their intercession.[549] The second level of Sufism in Pakistan is 'intellectual Sufism', which is growing among the urban and educated population. They are influenced by the writings of Sufis such as the medieval theologian al-Ghazali, the Sufi reformer Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindi, and Shah Wali Allah.[550] Contemporary Islamic fundamentalists criticise Sufism's popular character, which in their view does not accurately reflect the teachings and practice of the Prophet and his companions.[551]

Hinduism

Hinduism is the second-largest religion in Pakistan after Islam, according to the 1998 census.[552] As of 2010[update], Pakistan had the fifth-largest Hindu population in the world.[553] In the 1998 census the Hindu (jati) population was found to be 2,111,271 while the Hindu (scheduled castes) numbered an additional 332,343.[552] Hindus are found in all provinces of Pakistan but are mostly concentrated in Sindh. They speak a variety of languages such as Sindhi, Seraiki, Aer, Dhatki, Gera, Goaria, Gurgula, Jandavra, Kabutra, Koli, Loarki, Marwari, Sansi, Vaghri,[554] and Gujarati.[509]

At the time of Pakistan's creation the 'hostage theory' gained currency. According to this theory, the Hindu minority in Pakistan was to be given a fair deal in Pakistan in order to ensure the protection of the Muslim minority in India.[555][556] However, Khawaja Nazimuddin, the secondPrime Minister of Pakistan, stated:

I do not agree that religion is a private affair of the individual nor do I agree that in an Islamic state every citizen has identical rights, no matter what his caste, creed or faith be.[557]

Some Hindus in Pakistan feel that they are treated as second-class citizens and many have continued to migrate to India.[558] Pakistani Hindus faced riots after the Babri Masjid demolition,[559] endured a massacre (in 2005) by security forces in Balochistan,[560] and have experienced other attacks, forced conversions, and abductions.[561][562][563]

Christianity and other religions

Christians formed the next largest religious minority, after Hindus, with a population of 2,092,902, according to the 1998 census.[564] They were followed by the Bahá'í Faith, which had a following of 30,000, then Sikhism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, each back then claiming 20,000 adherents,[565] and a very small community of Jains. There is a Roman Catholic community in Karachi that was established by Goan and Tamil migrants when Karachi's infrastructure was being developed by the British during the colonial administration between World War I and World War II. The influence of atheism is very small, with 1.0% of the population identifying as atheist in 2005.[566] However, the figure rose to 2.0% in 2012 according to Gallup.[566]

Clothing, arts, and fashion

The Shalwar Kameez is the national dress of Pakistan and is worn by both men and women in all four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well as in FATA and Azad Kashmir. Each province has its own style of Shalwar Kameez. Pakistanis wear clothes in a range of exquisite colours and designs and in type of fabric (silk, chiffon, cotton, etc).[571] Besides the national dress, domestically tailored suits and neckties are often worn by men, and are customary in offices, schools, and social gatherings.[571]

The fashion industry has flourished in the changing environment of the fashion world. Since Pakistan came into being, its fashion has evolved in different phases and developed a unique identity. Today, Pakistani fashion is a combination of traditional and modern dress and has become a mark of Pakistani culture. Despite modern trends, regional and traditional forms of dress have developed their own significance as a symbol of native tradition. This regional fashion continues to evolve into both more modern and purer forms. The Pakistan Fashion Design Council based in Lahore organizes PFDC Fashion Week and the Fashion Pakistan Council based in Karachi organizes Fashion Pakistan Week. Pakistan's first fashion week was held in November 2009.[572]

Pakistani music ranges from diverse forms of provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern musical forms that fuse traditional and western music.[583][584] Pakistan has many famous folk singers. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has stimulated interest in Pashto music, although there has been intolerance of it in some places.[585]

Diaspora

Nergis Mavalvala is a Professor of Physics at MIT who is known for her role in the first observation of gravitational waves.

According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pakistan has the sixth-largest diaspora in the world.[523] Statistics gathered by the Pakistani government show that there are around 7 million Pakistanis residing abroad, with the vast majority living in the Middle East, Europe, and North America.[586] Pakistan ranks 10th in the world for remittances sent home.[587][588] The largest inflow of remittances, as of 2016, is from Saudi Arabia, amounting to $5.9 billion.[589] The term Overseas Pakistani is officially recognised by the Government of Pakistan. The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis was established in 2008 to deal exclusively with all matters of overseas Pakistanis such as attending to their needs and problems, developing projects for their welfare, and working for resolution of their problems and issues. Overseas Pakistanis are the second-largest source of foreign exchange remittances to Pakistan after exports. Over the last several years, home remittances have maintained a steadily rising trend, with a more than 100% increase from US$8.9 billion in 2009–10 to US$19.9 billion in 2015–16.[384][587][588]

Food and drink

Pakistani cuisine is similar to that of other regions of South Asia, since much of it originated from the royal kitchens of 16th-century Mughal emperors. Most of those dishes have their roots in British, Central Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Unlike Middle Eastern cuisine, Pakistani cooking uses large quantities of spices, herbs, and seasoning. Garlic, ginger, turmeric, red chili, and garam masala are used in most dishes, and home cooking regularly includes curry, roti, a thin flatbread made from wheat, is a staple food, usually served with curry, meat, vegetables, and lentils. Rice is also common; it is served plain, fried with spices, and in sweet dishes.[12][611][612]

^Hussain, Rizwan. Pakistan. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in its relationship with Islam: it is the only country to have been established in the name of Islam.

^Talbot, Ian (2 February 1984). "Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan". History Today. Retrieved 24 December 2016. As British rule there drew to an end, many Muslims demanded, in the name of Islam, the creation of a separate Pakistan state.

^Buzan, Barry; Wæver, Ole (2003). Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security. Cambridge University Press. p. 55. ISBN978-0-521-89111-0. In the framework of their regional security complex theory (RSCT), Barry Buzan and Ole Waever differentiate between superpowers and great powers which act and have an impact on the global level (or system level) and regional powers whose influence may be large in their regions but have less of an impact at the global level. This category of regional powers includes Brazil, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

^Vandamme, Dorothee. "Pakistan and Saudi Arabia : Towards Greater Independence in their Afghan Foreign Policy?"(PDF). Université catholique de Louvain. Retrieved 21 December 2016. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have enough influence to not be considered small, but not enough to be major powers. Within the limits of their regions, they play a significant political role. Thus instinctively, they would qualify as middle powers. While it is not the objective here to question the characteristics of Jordan's definition of middle powers, we argue that Pakistan is in fact a middle power despite its being nuclear-armed. When looking at the numbers, for instance, it appears that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan can be classified as middle powers (see in this regard Ping, 2007).

^Wright 2010:Quote: "The Indus civilization is one of three in the 'Ancient East' that, along with Mesopotamia and Pharonic Egypt, was a cradle of early civilization in the Old World (Childe 1950). Mesopotamia and Egypt were longer lived, but coexisted with Indus civilization during its florescence between 2600 and 1900 B.C. Of the three, the Indus was the most expansive, extending from today's northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and India."

^Joseph Needham (1994). A selection from the writings of Joseph Needham. McFarland & Co. p. 24. ISBN978-0-89950-903-7. When the men of Alexander the Great came to Taxila in India in the fourth century BCE they found a university there the like of which had not been seen in Greece, a university which taught the three Vedas and the eighteen accomplishments and was still existing when the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien went there about CE 400.

^Hermann Kulke; Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Routledge. p. 157. ISBN0-415-32919-1. In the early centuries the centre of Buddhist scholarship was the University of Taxila.

^ abMohiuddin, Yasmin Niaz (2007). Pakistan: A Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 70. ISBN978-1-85109-801-9. In the elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 90 percent of the legislative seats reserved for Muslims. It was the power of the big zamindars in Punjab and Sindh behind the Muslim League candidates, and the powerful campaign among the poor peasants of Bengal on economic issues of rural indebtedness and zamindari abolition, that led to this massive landslide victory (Alavi 2002, 14). Even Congress, which had always denied the League's claim to be the only true representative of Indian Muslims had to concede the truth of that claim. The 1946 election was, in effect, a plebiscite among Muslims on Pakistan.

^Mohiuddin, Yasmin Niaz (2007). Pakistan: A Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 71. ISBN978-1-85109-801-9. Despite the League's victory in the elections, the British did not want the partition of India. As a last attempt to avoid it, Britain put forward the Cabinet Mission Plan, according to which India would become a federation of three large, self-governing provinces and the central government would be limited to power over foreign policy and defense, implying a weak center.

^Singh, Amritjit; Iyer, Nalini; Gairola, Rahul K. (2016). Revisiting India's Partition: New Essays on Memory, Culture, and Politics. Lexington Books. p. 14. ISBN978-1-4985-3105-4. The horrific statistics that surround women refugees-between 75,000–100,000 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women who were abducted by men of the other communities, subjected to multiple rapes, mutilations, and, for some, forced marriages and conversions-is matched by the treatment of the abducted women in the hands of the nation-state. In the Constituent Assembly in 1949 it was recorded that of the 50,000 Muslim women abducted in India, 8,000 of then were recovered, and of the 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women abducted, 12,000 were recovered.

^Abraham, Taisha (2002). Women and the Politics of Violence. Har-Anand Publications. p. 131. ISBN978-81-241-0847-5. In addition thousands of women on both sides of the newly formed borders (estimated range from 29,000 to 50,000 Muslim women and 15,000 to 35,000 Hindu and Sikh women) were abducted, raped, forced to convert, forced into marriage, forced back into what the two States defined as 'their proper homes,' torn apart from their families once during partition by those who abducted them, and again, after partition, by the State which tried to 'recover' and 'rehabilitate' them.

^McGrath, Allen (1996). The Destruction of Pakistan's Democracy. Oxford University Press. p. 38. ISBN978-0-19-577583-9. Undivided India, their magnificent imperial trophy, was besmirched by the creation of Pakistan, and the division of India was never emotionally accepted by many British leaders, Mountbatten among them.

^Ahmed, Akbar (2005). Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin. Routledge. ISBN978-1-134-75022-1. When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan if he had known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, his answer was instructive. There was no doubt in his mind about the legality or morality of his position on Pakistan. 'Most probably,' he said (1982:39).

^Hussain, Rizwan. Pakistan. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Mawlānā Shabbīr Ahmad Usmānī, a respected Deobandī ʿālim (scholar) who was appointed to the prestigious position of Shaykh al-Islām of Pakistan in 1949, was the first to demand that Pakistan become an Islamic state. But Mawdūdī and his Jamāʿat-i Islāmī played the central part in the demand for an Islamic constitution. Mawdūdī demanded that the Constituent Assembly make an unequivocal declaration affirming the "supreme sovereignty of God" and the supremacy of the sharīʿah as the basic law of Pakistan.

^ abHussain, Rizwan. Pakistan. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. The first important result of the combined efforts of the Jamāʿat-i Islāmī and the ʿulamāʿ was the passage of the Objectives Resolution in March 1949, whose formulation reflected compromise between traditionalists and modernists. The resolution embodied "the main principles on which the constitution of Pakistan is to be based." It declared that "sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust," that "the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam shall be fully observed," and that "the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accord with the teaching and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Qurʿan and Sunna." The Objectives Resolution has been reproduced as a preamble to the constitutions of 1956, 1962, and 1973.

^Haroon, Sana (2008). "The Rise of Deobandi Islam in the North-West Frontier Province and Its Implications in Colonial India and Pakistan 1914–1996". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 18: 66–67. JSTOR27755911.

^Haqqani, Hussain (2010). Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Carnegie Endowment. p. 16. ISBN978-0-87003-285-1. The first formal step toward transforming Pakistan into an Islamic ideological state was taken in March 1949 when the country's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, presented the Objectives Resolution in the constituent assembly.

^Dhulipala, Venkat (2015). Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India. Cambridge University Press. p. 491. ISBN978-1-316-25838-5. Khaliq drew a sharp distinction between this Islamic state and a Muslim state. He claimed that as of now Pakistan was only a Muslim state in view of the majority of its population being Muslim, and indeed could never be an Islamic state by itself. It could certainly fulfill its promise and destiny by bringing together all the believers of Islam into one political unit and it is only then that an Islamic state would be achieved.

^Haqqani, Hussain (2010). Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Carnegie Endowment. p. 18. ISBN978-0-87003-285-1. One of the earliest Western scholars of Pakistani politics, Keith Callard, observed that Pakistanis seemed to believe in the essential unity of purpose and outlook in the Muslim world: Pakistan was founded to advance the cause of Muslims. Other Muslims might have been expected to be sympathetic, even enthusiastic. But this assumed that other Muslim states would take the same view of the relation between religion and nationality.

^Haqqani, Hussain (2010). Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Carnegie Endowment. p. 18. ISBN978-0-87003-285-1. Pakistan's pan-Islamic aspirations, however, were neither shared nor supported by the Muslim governments of the time. Nationalism in other parts of the Muslim world was based on ethnicity, language, or territory.

^Haqqqani, Hussain (2010). Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Carnegie Endowment. p. 19. ISBN978-0-87003-285-1. Although Muslim governments were initially unsympathetic to Pakistan's pan-Islamic aspirations, Islamists from the world over were drawn to Pakistan. Controversial figures such as the pro-Nazi former grand mufti of Palestine, Al-Haj Amin al-Husseini, and leaders of Islamist political movements like the Arab Muslim Brotherhood became frequent visitors to the country.

^Cochrane, Iain (2009). The Causes of the Bangladesh War. ISBN978-1-4452-4043-5. The social scientist, Nasim Ahmad Jawed has conducted a survey of nationalism in pre-divided Pakistan and identifies the links between religion, politics and nationalism in both wings of Pakistan. His findings are fascinating and go some way to explain the differing attitudes of West and East Pakistan to the relationship between Islam and Pakistani nationalism and how this affected the views of people in both wings, especially the views of the peoples of both wings towards each other. In 1969, Jawed conducted a survey on the type of national identity that was used by educated professional people. He found that just over 60% in the East wing professed to have a secular national identity. However, in the West wing, the same figure professed an Islamic and not a secular identity. Furthermore, the same figure in the East wing described their identity in terms of their ethnicity and not in terms of Islam. He found that the opposite was the case in the West wing where Islam was stated to be more important than ethnicity.

^Diamantides, Marinos; Gearey, Adam (2011). Islam, Law and Identity. Routledge. p. 196. ISBN978-1-136-67565-2. The Constitution of 1973 was created by a parliament that was elected in the 1970 elections. In this first ever general elections ...

^Diamantides, Marinos; Gearey, Adam (2011). Islam, Law and Identity. Routledge. p. 198. ISBN978-1-136-67565-2. The 1973 constitution also created certain institutions to channel the application and interpretation of Islam: the Council of Islamic Ideology and the Shariat Court.

^Diamantides, Marinos; Gearey, Adam (2011). Islam, Law and Identity. Routledge. p. 198. ISBN978-1-136-67565-2. The Shariat judicial courts were not present in the original Constitution of 1973 and were later inserted in 1979 by General Zia-ul Haq ...

^Syed, Jawad; Pio, Edwina; Kamran, Tahir; Zaidi, Abbas (2016). Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan. Springer. p. 379. ISBN978-1-349-94966-3. Ironically, Islamic state politics in Pakistan was mostly in favour of Deobandi, and more recently Ahl-e Hadith/Salafi, institutions. Only a few Deobandi clerics decided to support the Pakistan Movement, but they were highly influential.

^Hussain, Rizwan. Pakistan. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Hence, Pakistan's political experience is integrally related to the struggle of Indian Muslims to find an autonomous political center after their loss of power to the British in the early nineteenth century.

^ abHaqqani, Husain (2005). "§Chapter 3". Pakistan : between mosque and military (1. print. ed.). Washington, DC: United Book Press. ISBN978-0-87003-214-1. The trauma was extremely severe in Pakistan when the news of secession of East Pakistan as Bangladesh arrived—a psychological setback, complete and humiliating defeat that shattered the prestige of Pakistan Armed Forces.

^Pasha, Sayed Abdul Muneem (2005). Islam in Pakistan's foreign policy. Global Media Publications. p. 226. ISBN978-81-88869-15-2. Following Khaliquzzaman, the Ali brothers had sought to project Pakistan, with its comparatively larger manpower and military strength, as the natural leader of the Islamic world.

^Dhulipala, Venkat (2015). Creating a New Medina. Cambridge University Press. p. 18. ISBN978-1-107-05212-3. As a top ranking ML leader Khaliquzzaman declared, 'Pakistan would bring all Muslim countries together into Islamistan – a pan-Islamic entity'.

^Haqqani, Husain (2013). Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding. PublicAffairs. pp. 20–21. ISBN978-1-61039-317-1. Within a few years the president of the Muslim League, Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman, announced that Pakistan would bring all Muslim countries together into Islamistan – a pan-Islamic entity. None of these developments within the new country elicited approval among Americans for the idea of India's partition ... British Prime Minister Clement Attlee voiced the international consensus at the time when he told the House of Commons of his hope that 'this severance may not endure.' He hoped that the proposed dominions of India and Pakistan would in course of time, come together to form one great Member State of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

^Roberts, Jeffery J. (2003). The Origins of Conflict in Afghanistan. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 134. ISBN978-0-275-97878-5. The following year, Choudhry Khaliquzzaman toured the Middle East, pleading for the formation of an alliance or confederation of Muslim states. The Arab states, often citing Pakistan's inability to solve its problems with Muslim neighbor Afghanistan, showed little enthusiasm ... Some saw the effort to form 'Islamistan' as a Pakistani attempt to dominate other Muslim states.

^Pande, Aparna (2011). Explaining Pakistan's Foreign Policy: Escaping India. Routledge. ISBN978-1-136-81893-6. The belief that the creation of Pakistan made Pakistan the true leader of Muslim causes around the world led Pakistan's diplomats to vigorously champion the cause of self-determination for fellow Muslims at the United Nations. Pakistan's founders, including Jinnah, supported anti-colonial movements: "Our heart and soul go out in sympathy with those who are struggling for their freedom ... If subjugation and exploitation are carried on, there will be no peace and there will be no end to wars." Pakistani efforts on behalf of Indonesia (1948), Algeria (1948–1949), Tunisia (1948–1949), Morocco (1948–1956) and Eritrea (1960–1991) were significant and initially led to close ties between these countries and Pakistan.

^Nasir, Abbas (18 August 2015). "The legacy of Pakistan's loved and loathed Hamid Gul". Al-Jazeera. Retrieved 4 January 2017. His commitment to jihad — to an Islamic revolution transcending national boundaries, was such that he dreamed one day the "green Islamic flag" would flutter not just over Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also over territories represented by the (former Soviet Union) Central Asian republics. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the director-general of the Pakistan's intelligence organisation, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, an impatient Gul wanted to establish a government of the so-called Mujahideen on Afghan soil. He then ordered an assault using non-state actors on Jalalabad, the first major urban centre across the Khyber Pass from Pakistan, with the aim capturing it and declaring it as the seat of the new administration.

^Pande, Aparna (2011). Explaining Pakistan's Foreign Policy: Escaping India. Taylor & Francis. p. 159. ISBN978-1-136-81894-3. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran used Pakistan as a battleground for their proxy war for the 'hearts and minds' of Pakistani Sunnis and Shias with the resultant rise in sectarian tensions in Pakistan. The rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s further strained Pakistan-Iran relations. Pakistan's support of the Sunni Pashtun organization created problems for Shia Iran for whom a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan was a nightmare.

^Schmetzer, Uli (14 September 1998). "Iran Raises Anti-pakistan Outcry". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 5 January 2017. KARACHI, Pakistan – Iran, which has amassed 200,000 troops on the border with Afghanistan, accused Pakistan on Sunday of sending warplanes to strafe and bombard Afghanistan's last Shiite stronghold, which fell hours earlier to the Taliban, the Sunni militia now controlling the central Asian country.

^Constable, Pamela (16 September 1998). "Afghanistan: Arena For a New Rivalry". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 January 2017. Taliban officials accused Iran of providing military support to the opposition forces; Tehran radio accused Pakistan of sending its air force to bomb the city in support of the Taliban's advance and said Iran was holding Pakistan responsible for what it termed war crimes at Bamiyan. Pakistan has denied that accusation and previous allegations of direct involvement in the Afghan conflict. Also fueling the volatile situation are ethnic and religious rivalries between the Taliban, who are Sunni Muslims of Afghanistan's dominant Pashtun ethnic group, and the opposition factions, many of which represent other ethnic groups or include Shiite Muslims. Iran, a Shiite Muslim state, has a strong interest in promoting that sect; Pakistan, one of the Taliban's few international allies, is about 80 percent Sunni.

^Aditya Rangroo (2 December 2011). "Top Intelligence Agencies of the World". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 20 February 2016. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan tops the list of intelligence agencies in the world in 2011, followed by the United States of America's CIA and United Kingdom's MI6. Russia's FSB, France's DGSE and Germany's BND are also on the list, followed by Israel's Mossad, India's RAW, Australia's ASIS and Canada's CSIS.

^Raza, Maroof (1996). "§Implications of 1971 war and India's nuclear explosion". Wars and no peace over Kashmir(googlebooks). New Delhi: Lancer Publishers. p. 170. ISBN1-897829-16-7. Retrieved 9 March 2015. In December 1971, Pakistan lost half its country, and with over ~90,000 troops of its military becoming POWs, all its earlier myth could not survive this no longer ...

^Endrst, Jeff (8 September 1965). "Kashmir Old Headache For U.N". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 15 January 2017. Former Indian Defense Minister Krishna Menon who for years influenced the decisions of late Prime Minister Nehru himself a Kashmiri-put it bluntly last March in an interview with an American newsman when he said India could never agree to a U.N. sponsored plebiscite because 'Kashmir would vote to join Pakistan, and no Indian government responsible for agreeing to the plebiscite could survive.'

^"Pakistan's peacekeeping role highlighted". Dawn. 24 October 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2016. Pakistan has contributed more than 160,000 troops to-date in 41 missions spread over 23 countries in almost all continents, it said. The country has remained one of the largest troop contributing countries consistently for many years.

^Abbas, Hassan (2015). Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror. Routledge. p. 148. ISBN978-1-317-46328-3. Javed Nasir confesses that despite the U.N. ban on supplying arms to the besieged Bosnians, he successfully airlifted sophisticated antitank guided missiles which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege. Under his leadership the ISI also got involved in supporting Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang Province, rebel Muslim groups in the Philippines, and some religious groups in Central Asia.

^Declan Walsh (18 May 2013). "Pakistan, Rusting in Its Tracks". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2013. natural disasters and entrenched insurgencies, abject poverty and feudal kleptocrats, and an economy near meltdown

^Monnoo, Kamal (23 November 2016). "Pakistan's debt profile". The Nation (Pakistan). Retrieved 14 February 2017. What this latest debt number also means is that over the first quarter (July–September) of this fiscal year, the government added to the debt by some Rs858 billion, taking the debt to GDP ratio to nearly 69.50%, which in June 2016 stood at around 66.50%.

^Lele, Ajey (2012). Asian Space Race: Rhetoric or Reality?. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 46. ISBN978-81-322-0733-7. Headquartered in SUPARCO headquarters, Karachi, it has been responsible directly and indirectly for the fabrication, processing and launch of the Muslim Ummah's first experimental satellite, Badr-1. It was a historical event not only for the people of Pakistan but also for the entire Muslim Ummah as it was the first satellite built by any Islamic country based on indigenous resources and manpower.

^Sayar, M.A. (April–June 1995). "Should We Exploit The Last Wilderness?". The Fountain Magazine. Retrieved 9 February 2016. Pakistan became the first Muslim country to send an official expedition to Antarctica. Pakistan in 1992, established its Jinnah Antarctic Research Station.

^"Huge Oil Deposits Located Near Coast". Economic Review. Economic & Industrial Publications. 22. 1991. To a question Dr. Farah said, Pakistan was the first country to carry out research and establish its station at the same time in Antarctica.

^Farah, Abul; Rizvi, S.H. Niaz (1995). Pakistan's Scientific Expeditions to Antarctica. National Institute of Oceanography. p. 15. Pakistan's presence in Antarctica also appears imperative as none of the Muslim countries seem to be in a position to undertake research there.

^Farah, Abul; Rizvi, S.H. Niaz (1995). Pakistan's Scientific Expeditions to Antarctica. National Institute of Oceanography. p. 17. We have already taken the lead amongst the Muslim countries by launching our first expedition in 1990–1991 with an investment of large funds and national talent towards Antarctic research.

^"News Bulletin". National Institute of Oceanography (Pakistan). The Institute. 7: 1. 1992. This makes Pakistan the first Muslim country to undertake Antarctic Expedition and to establish a research station in Antarctica.

^"Antarctic Research". National Institute of Geography. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2011. Pakistan is maintaining two summer research stations and one weather observatory in the vicinity of SOR Rondane Mountain Range. Pakistan is also planning to build a full fledged permanent base at Antarctica.

^ abBrahui. Encyclopædia Britannica. Brahui, tribal confederacy of Balochistān, in western Pakistan. Its members are mostly nomadic goat herdsmen, distributed from the Bolān Pass through the Brāhui Hills to Cape Muarī on the Arabian Sea. The Brahui language is a far northwestern member of the Dravidian family of languages, all of whose other members are spoken in peninsular India; it has borrowed heavily from Sindhi but remains in unexplained isolation among the surrounding Indo-Iranian dialects, to which it bears no genetic relationship. The Brahui are estimated to number about 1,560,000. Physically the Brahui resemble their Baloch and Pashtun neighbours, for the confederacy has been highly absorptive. They are Muslim by creed and Sunnite by sect, though the Muslim rites overlie essentially Indian social customs. Women are not strictly secluded. The 29 tribes owe a loose allegiance to the Brahui khan of Kalāt, which has long been associated with the confederacy's destinies. A group of eight tribes forms what is believed to be the original Brahui nucleus and constitutes about one-eleventh of the Brahui population. To these nuclear tribes have been affiliated many indigenous and captive peoples. The Brahui rose to power in the 17th century, overthrowing a dynasty of Hindu rajas. Under Naṣīr Khān, the confederacy attained its zenith in the 18th century. Their subsequent history centred on the state of Kalāt, which joined Pakistan in 1948.

^ abRehman, Zia Ur (18 August 2015). "With a handful of subbers, two newspapers barely keeping Gujarati alive in Karachi". The News International. Retrieved 13 January 2017. In Pakistan, the majority of Gujarati-speaking communities are in Karachi including Dawoodi Bohras, Ismaili Khojas, Memons, Kathiawaris, Katchhis, Parsis (Zoroastrians) and Hindus, said Gul Hasan Kalmati, a researcher who authored "Karachi, Sindh Jee Marvi", a book discussing the city and its indigenous communities. Although there are no official statistics available, community leaders claim that there are three million Gujarati-speakers in Karachi – roughly around 15 percent of the city's entire population.

^"Fringe Pakistan: Bengali-speaking Pakistanis demand right to vote". Express Tribune. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2016. Shaikh Muhammad Feroze, the chairman of the committee, said during a press conference on Friday that political parties and the government should acknowledge the sacrifices of their ancestors. 'We live in Sindh and feel proud to be called Sindhis rather than Bengalis. We appeal to Sindhi nationalists and Sindhis to help us in our struggle,' he added. He said that Bengali-speaking people were not given educational rights as they did not possess national identity cards. 'Our children can't get an education after matriculation because colleges ask for the identity cards but the National Database Registration Authority has never accepted us as Pakistani citizens.' Shaikh said that over three million Bengalis and Biharis were grateful to the government for accepting them as Pakistani citizens. 'We postponed a hunger strike planned for March 25 after the government made decisions,' he added. 'We can go on a hunger strike, if our rights are not given.' He claimed that there were 200 settlements of Bengali-speaking people across the country, including 132 in Karachi. They populate different parts of Pakistan, including Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Tando Adam and Lahore.

^Rehman, Zia Ur (23 February 2015). "Identity issue haunts Karachi's Rohingya population". Dawn. Retrieved 26 December 2016. Their large-scale migration had made Karachi one of the largest Rohingya population centres outside Myanmar but afterwards the situation started turning against them.

^Jaffrey, Shumaila (12 August 2015). "How the Uighurs keep their culture alive in Pakistan". BBC. Retrieved 26 December 2016. Insa is one of a few thousand Uighur Muslims who live in Gilgit. The community is a mix of generations. Some left Xinjiang and the thriving trading town of Kashgar in 1949, while others are later arrivals. All say they were forced to leave as they were the victims of cultural and religious oppression in China.

^Istvan, Zoltan (13 March 2003). "Refugee Crisis Worsening In Western Kashmir". National Geographic. Retrieved 15 January 2017. The refugees claim that Indian soldiers forced them out of their homes ... For Kashmiri Muslims, Pakistan appeared safer than Indian-held Kashmir ... "She was also raped by the soldiers," Ahmad said. "Many of the other female refugees were also raped."

^Abbas, Zaffar (13 March 2002). "Pakistan's Sidi keep heritage alive". BBC. Retrieved 26 December 2016. One of the Pakistan's smallest ethnic communities is made up of people of African origin, known as Sidi. The African-Pakistanis live in Karachi and other parts of the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces in abject poverty, but they rarely complain of discrimination. Although this small Muslim community is not on the verge of extinction, their growing concern is how to maintain their distinct African identity in the midst of the dominating South Asian cultures.

^ ab"The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity". Pew Research Center. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2016. On the other hand, in Pakistan, where 6% of the survey respondents identify as Shia, Sunni attitudes are more mixed: 50% say Shias are Muslims, while 41% say they are not.

^The 1998 Pakistani census states that there are 291,000 (0.22%) Ahmadis in Pakistan. However, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has boycotted the census since 1974 which renders official Pakistani figures to be inaccurate. Independent groups have estimated the Pakistani Ahmadiyya population to be somewhere between 2 million and 5 million Ahmadis. However, the 4 million figure is the most quoted figure and is approximately 2.2% of the country. See: